Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 152.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,035,235 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 625,565 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Palo Alto Networks worth $188,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 238,564 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $43,409,000 after acquiring an additional 119,282 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1,836.3% in the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 45,329 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $8,248,000 after purchasing an additional 42,988 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 303.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 1,165 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 230.4% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 5,332 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $970,000 after purchasing an additional 3,718 shares during the period. Finally, WBH Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock traded down $7.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $191.38. The stock had a trading volume of 3,137,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,305,220. The stock has a market cap of $126.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. The company's 50 day moving average price is $187.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.95. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.70.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.